Milan, February 21 (BNA): Inter Milan lost 2-0 at home to Sassuolo, who plays in the middle of the pitch on Sunday, and missed an opportunity to beat rival Milan and top the Italian league.
Leaders Milan stumbled on Saturday with a 2-2 draw with last-placed Salernitana. Inter Milan remains two points behind in second place, but with a game postponed.
Sassuolo translated his strong start into a goal in the eighth minute.
Hakan Calhanoglu helped the visitors, losing the ball in midfield with Domenico Berardi sending the ball to Giacomo Rasbadori to score the first goal with a low shot, The Associated Press reported.
Gianluca Scamaca doubled the lead in the 26th minute with a header to score his 10th league goal of the season. It could have been 3-0 late in the first half as Berardi hit the crossbar of Samir Handanovic’s goal.
Substitute Eden Dzeko, Lautaro Martinez and Alexis Sanchez were among those who failed to convert scoring chances as Inter increased pressure in the second half.
In the end, it seemed that Stefan de Vrijj slipped at least once to Inter in stoppage time in the second half, but the VAR disqualified the goal due to a handball.
And Milan fought the absence of suspended playmaker Marcelo Brozovic.
Sassuolo moved to eleventh place.
Lazio saved a 1-1 draw with Udinese to stay in sixth place.
Unmarked Felipe Anderson scored the equalizer in the last minute of the first half after being left unmarked at the far post.
Gerard Deulofeu scored from inside the area to put Udinese ahead in the fifth minute after Lazio failed to clear a corner kick.
Udinese’s Nahuel Molina hit the crossbar in stoppage time in the second half.
Udinese remains in 16th place.
Earlier, Fiorentina beat Atalanta 1-0 to stay in the race for a place in European competitions.
Krzysztof Piatek collected a Nico Gonzalez cross to score the winner from close range in the 56th minute. It was the Poland international’s fifth goal in his six matches with Fiorentina. The striker joined the Italian club on loan from Hertha Berlin last month.
This is Fiorentina’s third victory over Atalanta in all competitions this season.
Atalanta got the equalizer through Ruslan Malinovsky, who canceled it for offside after five minutes of reviewing the video. Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini has been dismissed for dissent following this decision.
His team was hit hard by injuries, and Jeremy Boga was the only available striker.
Fiorentina climbed to seventh, two points behind Atalanta in fifth.
In a match between two relegation-threatened teams, Venice and Genoa tied 1-1 to remain in 17th and 19th places, respectively.